Saturday, April 28, 2012

Foreign Possibilities

It really is a strange old world we live in sometimes. While Melissa and I waited to board our Delta flight to New York a few months ago at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow I spotted a tall youngish guy in a check shirt and jeans who wore the permanent tan of someone who spends their life outside in the sun in every kind of weather. He was also wearing a baseball cap that advertised a cattle breeding farm in Nebraska. As I checked him out so too he checked me out. When our mutual appraisal was over he gave me a small smile and a short head nod both of which I returned. I thought that was it until after I sat down; the big farmer was sitting directly across the aisle from me.

With ten hours to kill and another farmer close by you can believe we did some talking as the plane crossed the Atlantic. Turns out this guy grew up in Nebraska but was currently the manager for a big 6000 head/30,000 acre Angus breeding farm in Kaluga, Russia a couple of hours south of Moscow. The Russian/American partnership/farm imported all it's genetics from the US and was in the process of setting up a total farm to plate system including a packinghouse and a small feedyard to finish the animals on corn silage. I quizzed him pretty good on climate, soil conditions and local available agricultural infrastructure and as near as I can tell that area of Russia has a climate and soil conditions similar to those found in southwestern Minnesota. The only odd part was that despite vast native grassland resources and a suitable climate for raising huge herds of beef there is no real native beef industry in Russia. I can attest to the extremely high prices of beef at the grocery stores I visited in Moscow and it blew me away that most of the beef I saw was imported from Australia. Russia is a pretty volatile place economically and otherwise but putting two and two together I think this may well be a heck of an opportunity for those who get in on the ground floor. It certainly managed to get the wheels spinning in my head !

Ours really is a world of possibilities. I've heard all my life about the underutilized but extremely fertile chernozem soils found in a broad belt from the Ukraine across southern Russia and into Siberia. What I heard from my farmer friend confirmed much of what I had heard through second hand sources before. If managed properly this region has the potential to become a huge player on the world stage in terms of agricultural production. Maybe one day between now and then I'll get to go back and actually see it with my own eyes !

13 comments:

Bif said...

Melissa will kill you if you run off to Russia to start your cattle baron-ship.

But it is very interesting; Maybe they are afraid if they get a lot of cattle the Da*n Germans or French will come again?

Funder said...

What a cool meeting, and an ambitious plan! I hope it goes well for the Nebraska fellow.

Jack said...

A young fellow I know from north of London Ontario is in Russia now doing a sililar thing although I think he is focused on cattle managemnent. It is interesting how small the world has become and the opportunities that exist for those you are adventurous enough to take action.
After the very early and warm start to spring things cooled abit here in S. Ontario and the forsythia are still in bloom and the maples are just starting to have leaf emergence, another week and we will be pretty close to normal!

Bif said...

Totally off topic question, but I know you guys use feed bags, so...

Any recommendations for feedbags for my mini donkeys? I want to find a mesh style, but none of the mesh ones seem to be suitable for smaller equines. Do the ponies use feed bags? How small do they adjust down to, do you think?

Jason said...

Yep, the ponies and our donkey all use black mesh Cashel feed bags and nobody manages to throw them off their heads either.

Bif said...

Thanks. I can't really separate them to feed because they get upset if they're, well, separated.

I'll have to give the Cashels a try.

Bif said...

HEY!!! Just because you blog on Paradigm Farms sometimes doesn't mean you can neglect us here. It's been over a month and a half.

We've *been* patient.

And none of those "It's farming's busy season" or "I'm tired at the end of long day and leave me alone, damn it" excuses.

Post Post POST!!!!

Jason said...

LOL ! All I can say is that it will make a lot of sense pretty soon ! How is that for being an enigma wrapped in a riddle ? :)

Bif said...

Is that some sort of breakfast food? Like pigs in a blanket?

Bif said...

You are writing a book!?!

When will it come out?

Jason said...

LOL ! That would definitely take me a long time and it likely wouldn't be worth reading when I got it done.

Actually this project is a bit more time consuming than that.

Bif said...

If patience is a virtue, well, I may not have many virtues.

No pressure, though. Blog at your own pace.

This is supposed to be fun...

Bif said...

I'm. Not. Giving. Up.

Eventually, you'll post again ;-)